What’s New For Dinner?: Spaghetti with Homemade Sauce and Meatballs

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

This week, I wanted to try something that my son could help me make–and that I could turn into a Dinner & a Movie night. I have never made homemade spaghetti sauce before–always just dumping something out from a store-bought jar– nor have I ever made an attempt at homemade meatballs. So this was my “challenge” for this week.

Up until this point, I didn’t allow my son to help me cook anything involving raw meat. But I figured if I watched him closely, he’d be just fine. I’m glad I did as he had a blast rolling up some meatballs with me. I spent quite a bit of time stressing the importance of washing your hands very well after handling raw meat and how he shouldn’t touch his face, etc with his “grimy” hands. I had to laugh when the rest of the week he kept asking me if it was “good meat” or not whenever I’d make something. And we chuckled as he explained to his Daddy that it goes in yucky meat and comes out new cooked meat that we can eat. Just when you think they aren’t listening to you, right?

So for this recipe, I just followed a recipe I found on AllRecipes.com. My favorite part was how the house filled up with a delicious smell of garlic. The least favorite part (which was my own fault) was not reading the recipe completely to see that the sauce simmers for 90 minutes, and then takes another 30 minutes after you add the meatballs. I really just skimmed it too quick. The plan was to make this and then watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs but we ended up starting the movie and then pausing it when supper was ready. It worked out just fine, though.

Here’s a picture of the meatballs my son and I made:

And here’s a picture of our meal:

VERDICT: I am definitely adding this one into my monthly meal plan as I thought it was a fabulous recipe. It makes a lot of food so we had plenty of leftovers for another meal, or two. Had I been thinking, I would have saved some of the meatballs to make meatball sandwiches the next night. I actually want to try to freeze them, and the sauce, so I can see how it tastes for a night I need to make a quick meal. Next time–we’ll probably watch Lady and the Tramp , as I love the scene of the dogs eating the spaghetti and the kids haven’t seen it yet! 🙂

Next week, I’ll be sharing a recipe that goes very well with this one! Did any of you try to make anything new this week? I’d love to hear about it! Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s latest adventure this week –she made a Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal Recipe. You can also check out some of the past recipes I’ve tried this year.